Minimum scheduling delay signaling

ABSTRACT

Certain aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to methods and apparatus for minimum scheduling delay signaling.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/584,833, filed Sep. 26, 2019, which claims the benefit of andpriority to U.S. Provisional Patent Applications No. 62/739,084 filedSep. 28, 2018, No. 62/791,445 filed Jan. 11, 2019, 62/828,220 filed Apr.2, 2019, and No. 62/847,045 filed May 13, 2019, each of which areassigned to the assignee hereof and are incorporated by reference intheir entireties.

BACKGROUND Field of the Disclosure

Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to wirelesscommunications systems, and more particularly, to signaling schedulingdelays.

Description of Related Art

Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide varioustelecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging,broadcasts, etc. These systems may employ multiple-access technologiescapable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharingavailable system resources (e.g., bandwidth and transmit power).Examples of such multiple-access systems include 3rd GenerationPartnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, LTEAdvanced (LTE-A) systems, code division multiple access (CDMA) systems,time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency divisionmultiple access (FDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency division multipleaccess (OFDMA) systems, single-carrier frequency division multipleaccess (SC-FDMA) systems, and time division synchronous code divisionmultiple access (TD-SCDMA) systems.

In some examples, a wireless multiple-access communication system mayinclude a number of base stations (BSs) that each can simultaneouslysupport communication for multiple communication devices, otherwiseknown as user equipment (UEs). In LTE or LTE-A network, a set of one ormore gNBs may define an e NodeB (eNB). In other examples (e.g., in anext generation, new radio (NR), or 5G network), a wireless multipleaccess communication system may include a number of distributed units(DUs) (e.g., edge units (EUs), edge nodes (ENs), radio heads (RHs),smart radio heads (SRHs), transmission reception points (TRPs), etc.) incommunication with a number of central units (CUs) (e.g., central nodes(CNs), access node controllers (ANCs), etc.), where a set of one or moredistributed units, in communication with a central unit, may define anaccess node (e.g., a NR BS, a NR NB, a network node, a 5G NB, a nextgeneration NB (gNB), etc.). A gNB or DU may communicate with a set ofUEs on downlink channels (e.g., for transmissions from a base station orto a UE) and uplink channels (e.g., for transmissions from a UE to a gNBor DU).

These multiple access technologies have been adopted in varioustelecommunication standards to provide a common protocol that enablesdifferent wireless devices to communicate on a municipal, national,regional, and even global level. NR (e.g., 5G radio access) is anexample of an emerging telecommunication standard. NR is a set ofenhancements to the LTE mobile standard promulgated by 3GPP. It isdesigned to better support mobile broadband Internet access by improvingspectral efficiency, lowering costs, improving services, making use ofnew spectrum, and better integrating with other open standards usingOFDMA with a cyclic prefix (CP) on the downlink (DL) and on the uplink(UL) as well as support beamforming, multiple-input multiple-output(MIMO) antenna technology, and carrier aggregation.

However, as the demand for mobile broadband access continues toincrease, there exists a need for further improvements in NR and LTEtechnology. Preferably, these improvements should be applicable to othermulti-access technologies and the telecommunication standards thatemploy these technologies.

BRIEF SUMMARY

The systems, methods, and devices of the disclosure each have severalaspects, no single one of which is solely responsible for its desirableattributes. Without limiting the scope of this disclosure as expressedby the claims which follow, some features will now be discussed briefly.After considering this discussion, and particularly after reading thesection entitled “Detailed Description” one will understand how thefeatures of this disclosure provide advantages that include improvedcommunications between access points and stations in a wireless network.

Certain aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to methodsand apparatus for signaling scheduling information.

Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide a method for wirelesscommunication by a user equipment (UE). The method generally includesreceiving a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) with downlinkcontrol information (DCI) signaling a scheduling parameter indicating ascheduling delay between an end of the PDCCH transmission and abeginning of a transmission scheduled by the PDCCH, determining a valueof the scheduling parameter is below a minimum threshold, and taking atleast one action in response to the determination.

Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide a method for wirelesscommunication by a network entity. The method generally includesdetermining a minimum threshold for a scheduling parameter thatindicates a scheduling delay between an end of a physical downlinkcontrol channel (PDCCH) transmission and a beginning of a transmissionscheduled by the PDCCH and configuring a user equipment (UE) with theminimum threshold.

Aspects generally include methods, apparatus, systems, computer readablemediums, and processing systems, as substantially described herein withreference to and as illustrated by the accompanying drawings.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the one or moreaspects comprise the features hereinafter fully described andparticularly pointed out in the claims. The following description andthe annexed drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative featuresof the one or more aspects. These features are indicative, however, ofbut a few of the various ways in which the principles of various aspectsmay be employed, and this description is intended to include all suchaspects and their equivalents.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

So that the manner in which the above-recited features of the presentdisclosure can be understood in detail, a more particular description,briefly summarized above, may be had by reference to aspects, some ofwhich are illustrated in the appended drawings. It is to be noted,however, that the appended drawings illustrate only certain typicalaspects of this disclosure and are therefore not to be consideredlimiting of its scope, for the description may admit to other equallyeffective aspects.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an exampletelecommunications system, in accordance with certain aspects of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example logical architectureof a distributed radio access network (RAN), in accordance with certainaspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example physical architecture of adistributed RAN, in accordance with certain aspects of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating a design of anexample base station (BS) and user equipment (UE), in accordance withcertain aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing examples for implementing a communicationprotocol stack, in accordance with certain aspects of the presentdisclosure.

FIGS. 6 and 7 illustrate an example of a frame format for a new radio(NR) system, in accordance with certain aspects of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 8 illustrates example downlink communications with bandwidth parts(BWP).

FIG. 9 illustrates an example downlink communications with multiple BWPshaving downlink control information (DCI).

FIG. 10 illustrates example operations for wireless communication by abase station, in accordance with certain aspects of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 11 illustrates example operations for wireless communication by auser-equipment (UE), in accordance with certain aspects of the presentdisclosure.

FIGS. 12A and 12B illustrates example bandwidth part schedulingparameters, in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 13 illustrates example downlink communications with bandwidth parts(BWP).

FIG. 14 illustrates example scheduling offset with aperiodic channelstate information (A-CSI).

FIG. 15 illustrates example scheduling offset with multiple bandwidthparts (BWPs).

FIG. 16 illustrates example scheduling offset with cross-carrierscheduling.

To facilitate understanding, identical reference numerals have beenused, where possible, to designate identical elements that are common tothe figures. It is contemplated that elements disclosed in one aspectmay be beneficially utilized on other aspects without specificrecitation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Aspects of the present disclosure provide apparatus, methods, processingsystems, and computer readable mediums for NR (new radio accesstechnology or 5G technology). NR may support various wirelesscommunication services, such as enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB)targeting wide bandwidth (e.g. 80 MHz beyond), millimeter wave (mmW)targeting high carrier frequency (e.g. 27 GHz or beyond), massivemachine type communications (mMTC) targeting non-backward compatible MTCtechniques, and/or mission critical targeting ultra-reliable low-latencycommunications (URLLC). These services may include latency andreliability requirements. These services may also have differenttransmission time intervals (TTI) to meet respective quality of service(QoS) requirements. In addition, these services may co-exist in the samesubframe.

In certain systems, (e.g., 3GPP Release-13 long term evolution (LTE)networks), enhanced machine type communications (eMTC) are supported,targeting low cost devices, often at the cost of lower throughput. eMTCmay involve half-duplex (HD) operation in which uplink transmissions anddownlink transmissions can both be performed—but not simultaneously.Some eMTC devices (e.g., eMTC UEs) may look at (e.g., be configured withor monitor) no more than around 1 MHz or six resource blocks (RBs) ofbandwidth at any given time. eMTC UEs may be configured to receive nomore than around 1000 bits per subframe. For example, these eMTC UEs maysupport a max throughput of around 300 Kbits per second. This throughputmay be sufficient for certain eMTC use cases, such as certain activitytracking, smart meter tracking, and/or updates, etc., which may consistof infrequent transmissions of small amounts of data; however, greaterthroughput for eMTC devices may be desirable for other cases, such ascertain Internet-of-Things (IoT) use cases, wearables such as smartwatches, etc.

The following description provides examples, and is not limiting of thescope, applicability, or examples set forth in the claims. Changes maybe made in the function and arrangement of elements discussed withoutdeparting from the scope of the disclosure. Various examples may omit,substitute, or add various procedures or components as appropriate. Forinstance, the methods described may be performed in an order differentfrom that described, and various steps may be added, omitted, orcombined. Also, features described with respect to some examples may becombined in some other examples. For example, an apparatus may beimplemented or a method may be practiced using any number of the aspectsset forth herein. In addition, the scope of the disclosure is intendedto cover such an apparatus or method which is practiced using otherstructure, functionality, or structure and functionality in addition toor other than the various aspects of the disclosure set forth herein. Itshould be understood that any aspect of the disclosure disclosed hereinmay be embodied by one or more elements of a claim. The word “exemplary”is used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, orillustration.” Any aspect described herein as “exemplary” is notnecessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over otheraspects.

The techniques described herein may be used for various wirelesscommunication networks such as LTE, CDMA, TDMA, FDMA, OFDMA, SC-FDMA andother networks. The terms “network” and “system” are often usedinterchangeably. A CDMA network may implement a radio technology such asUniversal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), cdma2000, etc. UTRA includesWideband CDMA (WCDMA) and other variants of CDMA. cdma2000 coversIS-2000, IS-95 and IS-856 standards. A TDMA network may implement aradio technology such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM).An OFDMA network may implement a radio technology such as NR (e.g. 5GRA), Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), IEEE 802.11(Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, Flash-OFDMA, etc. UTRA andE-UTRA are part of Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS). NRis an emerging wireless communications technology under development inconjunction with the 5G Technology Forum (5GTF). 3GPP Long TermEvolution (LTE) and LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) are releases of UMTS that useE-UTRA. UTRA, E-UTRA, UMTS, LTE, LTE-A and GSM are described indocuments from an organization named “3rd Generation PartnershipProject” (3GPP). cdma2000 and UMB are described in documents from anorganization named “3rd Generation Partnership Project 2” (3GPP2). Thetechniques described herein may be used for the wireless networks andradio technologies mentioned above as well as other wireless networksand radio technologies. For clarity, while aspects may be describedherein using terminology commonly associated with 3G and/or 4G wirelesstechnologies, aspects of the present disclosure can be applied in othergeneration-based communication systems, such as 5G and later, includingNR technologies.

Example Wireless Communications System

FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless network 100 in which aspects ofthe present disclosure may be performed. For example, the wirelessnetwork 100 may include a network entity (e.g., a gNB 110) configured toperform operations 1000 of FIG. 10 to signal minimum scheduling delaysto a UE 120 (configured to perform operations 1100 of FIG. 11

A UE 120 may be configured for enhanced machine type communications(eMTC). The UE 120 may be considered a low cost device, low cost UE,eMTC device, and/or eMTC UE. The UE 120 can be configured to supporthigher bandwidth and/or data rates (e.g., higher than 1 MHz). The UE 120may be configured with a plurality of narrowband regions (e.g., 24resource blocks (RBs) or 96 RBs). The UE 120 may receive a resourceallocation, from a gNB 110, allocating frequency hopped resources withina system bandwidth for the UE 120 to monitor and/or transmit on. Theresource allocation can indicate non-contiguous narrowband frequencyresources for uplink transmission in at least one subframe. The resourceallocation may indicate frequency resources are not contained within abandwidth capability of the UE to monitor for downlink transmission. TheUE 120 may determine, based on the resource allocation, differentnarrowband than the resources indicated in the resource allocation fromthe gNB 110 for uplink transmission or for monitoring. The resourceallocation indication (e.g., such as that included in the downlinkcontrol information (DCI)) may include a set of allocated subframes,frequency hopping related parameters, and an explicit resourceallocation on the first subframe of the allocated subframes. Thefrequency hopped resource allocation on subsequent subframes areobtained by applying the frequency hopping procedure based on thefrequency hopping related parameters (which may also be partly includedin the DCI and configured partly through radio resource control (RRC)signaling) starting from the resources allocated on the first subframeof the allocated subframes.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the wireless network 100 may include a numberof gNBs 110 and other network entities. A gNB may be a station thatcommunicates with UEs. Each gNB 110 may provide communication coveragefor a particular geographic area. In 3GPP, the term “cell” can refer toa coverage area of a Node B and/or a NB subsystem serving this coveragearea, depending on the context in which the term is used. In NR systems,the term “cell” and NB, next generation NB (gNB), 5G NB, access point(AP), BS, NR BS, or transmission reception point (TRP) may beinterchangeable. In some examples, a cell may not necessarily bestationary, and the geographic area of the cell may move according tothe location of a mobile gNB. In some examples, the gNBs may beinterconnected to one another and/or to one or more other gNBs ornetwork nodes (not shown) in the wireless network 100 through varioustypes of backhaul interfaces such as a direct physical connection, avirtual network, or the like using any suitable transport network.

In general, any number of wireless networks may be deployed in a givengeographic area. Each wireless network may support a particular radioaccess technology (RAT) and may operate on one or more frequencies. ARAT may also be referred to as a radio technology, an air interface,etc. A frequency may also be referred to as a carrier, a frequencychannel, a tone, a subband, a subcarrier, etc. Each frequency maysupport a single RAT in a given geographic area in order to avoidinterference between wireless networks of different RATs. In some cases,NR or 5G RAT networks may be deployed.

A gNB may provide communication coverage for a macro cell, a pico cell,a femto cell, and/or other types of cell. A macro cell may cover arelatively large geographic area (e.g., several kilometers in radius)and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with service subscription. Apico cell may cover a relatively small geographic area and may allowunrestricted access by UEs with service subscription. A femto cell maycover a relatively small geographic area (e.g., a home) and may allowrestricted access by UEs having association with the femto cell (e.g.,UEs in a Closed Subscriber Group (CSG), UEs for users in the home,etc.). A gNB for a macro cell may be referred to as a macro gNB. A gNBfor a pico cell may be referred to as a pico gNB. A gNB for a femto cellmay be referred to as a femto gNB or a home gNB. In the example shown inFIG. 1, the gNBs 110 a, 110 b and 110 c may be macro gNBs for the macrocells 102 a, 102 b and 102 c, respectively. The gNB 110 x may be a picogNB for a pico cell 102 x. The gNBs 110 y and 110 z may be femto gNB forthe femto cells 102 y and 102 z, respectively. A gNB may support one ormultiple (e.g., three) cells.

The wireless network 100 may also include relay stations. A relaystation is a station that receives a transmission of data and/or otherinformation from an upstream station (e.g., a gNB or a UE) and sends atransmission of the data and/or other information to a downstreamstation (e.g., a UE or a gNB). A relay station may also be a UE thatrelays transmissions for other UEs. In the example shown in FIG. 1, arelay station 110 r may communicate with the gNB 110 a and a UE 120 r inorder to facilitate communication between the gNB 110 a and the UE 120r. A relay station may also be referred to as a relay gNB, a relay, etc.

The wireless network 100 may be a heterogeneous network that includesgNBs of different types, e.g., macro gNB, pico gNB, femto gNB, relays,etc. These different types of gNBs may have different transmit powerlevels, different coverage areas, and different impact on interferencein the wireless network 100. For example, a macro gNB may have a hightransmit power level (e.g., 20 Watts) whereas pico gNB, femto gNB, andrelays may have a lower transmit power level (e.g., 1 Watt).

The wireless network 100 may support synchronous or asynchronousoperation. For synchronous operation, the gNBs may have similar frametiming, and transmissions from different gNBs may be approximatelyaligned in time. For asynchronous operation, the gNBs may have differentframe timing, and transmissions from different gNBs may not be alignedin time. The techniques described herein may be used for bothsynchronous and asynchronous operation.

A network controller 130 may couple to a set of gNBs and providecoordination and control for these gNBs. The network controller 130 maycommunicate with the gNBs 110 via a backhaul. The gNBs 110 may alsocommunicate with one another, for example, directly or indirectly viawireless or wireline backhaul.

The UEs 120 (e.g., 120 x, 120 y, etc.) may be dispersed throughout thewireless network 100, and each UE may be stationary or mobile. A UE mayalso be referred to as a mobile station, a terminal, an access terminal,a subscriber unit, a station, a Customer Premises Equipment (CPE), acellular phone, a smart phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), awireless modem, a wireless communication device, a handheld device, alaptop computer, a cordless phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station,a tablet, a camera, a gaming device, a netbook, a smartbook, anultrabook, a medical device or medical equipment, a biometricsensor/device, a wearable device such as a smart watch, smart clothing,smart glasses, a smart wrist band, smart jewelry (e.g., a smart ring, asmart bracelet, etc.), an entertainment device (e.g., a music device, avideo device, a satellite radio, etc.), a vehicular component or sensor,a smart meter/sensor, industrial manufacturing equipment, a globalpositioning system device, or any other suitable device that isconfigured to communicate via a wireless or wired medium. Some UEs maybe considered evolved or machine-type communication (MTC) devices orevolved MTC (eMTC) devices. MTC and eMTC UEs include, for example,robots, drones, remote devices, sensors, meters, monitors, locationtags, etc., that may communicate with a gNB, another device (e.g.,remote device), or some other entity. A wireless node may provide, forexample, connectivity for or to a network (e.g., a wide area networksuch as Internet or a cellular network) via a wired or wirelesscommunication link. Some UEs may be considered Internet-of-Things (IoT)devices or narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) devices.

In FIG. 1, a solid line with double arrows indicates desiredtransmissions between a UE and a serving gNB, which is a gNB designatedto serve the UE on the downlink and/or uplink. A finely dashed line withdouble arrows indicates interfering transmissions between a UE and agNB.

Certain wireless networks (e.g., LTE) utilize orthogonal frequencydivision multiplexing (OFDM) on the downlink and single-carrierfrequency division multiplexing (SC-FDM) on the uplink. OFDM and SC-FDMpartition the system bandwidth into multiple (K) orthogonal subcarriers,which are also commonly referred to as tones, bins, etc. Each subcarriermay be modulated with data. In general, modulation symbols are sent inthe frequency domain with OFDM and in the time domain with SC-FDM. Thespacing between adjacent subcarriers may be fixed, and the total numberof subcarriers (K) may be dependent on the system bandwidth. Forexample, the spacing of the subcarriers may be 15 kHz and the minimumresource allocation (e.g., an RB) may be 12 subcarriers (or 180 kHz).Consequently, the nominal FFT size may be equal to 128, 256, 512, 1024or 2048 for system bandwidth of 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10 or 20 megahertz (MHz),respectively. The system bandwidth may also be partitioned intosubbands. For example, a subband may cover 1.8 MHz (i.e., 6 resourceblocks), and there may be 1, 2, 4, 8 or 16 subbands for system bandwidthof 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10 or 20 MHz, respectively.

While aspects of the examples described herein may be associated withLTE technologies, aspects of the present disclosure may be applicablewith other wireless communications systems, such as NR.

NR may utilize OFDM with a CP on the uplink and downlink and includesupport for half-duplex operation using TDD. A single component carrierbandwidth of 100 MHz may be supported. NR resource blocks may span 12sub-carriers with a sub-carrier bandwidth of 75 kHz over a 0.1 msduration. Each radio frame may consist of two half frames, each halfframe consisting of 5 subframes, with a length of 10 ms. Consequently,each subframe may have a length of 1 ms. Each subframe may indicate alink direction (i.e., DL or UL) for data transmission and the linkdirection for each subframe may be dynamically switched. Each subframemay include DL/UL data as well as DL/UL control data. UL and DLsubframes for NR may be as described in more detail below with respectto FIGS. 6 and 7. Beamforming may be supported and beam direction may bedynamically configured. MIMO transmissions with precoding may also besupported. MIMO configurations in the DL may support up to 8 transmitantennas with multi-layer DL transmissions up to 8 streams and up to 2streams per UE. Multi-layer transmissions with up to 2 streams per UEmay be supported. Aggregation of multiple cells may be supported with upto 8 serving cells.

In LTE, the basic transmission time interval (TTI) or packet duration isthe 1 subframe. In NR, a subframe is still 1 ms, but the basic TTI isreferred to as a slot. A subframe contains a variable number of slots(e.g., 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, . . . slots) depending on the tone-spacing (e.g.,15, 30, 60, 120, 240 . . . kHz).

In some examples, access to the air interface may be scheduled, whereina scheduling entity (e.g., a gNB) allocates resources for communicationamong some or all devices and equipment within its service area or cell.The scheduling entity may be responsible for scheduling, assigning,reconfiguring, and releasing resources for one or more subordinateentities. That is, for scheduled communication, subordinate entitiesutilize resources allocated by the scheduling entity. gNBs are not theonly entities that may function as a scheduling entity. That is, in someexamples, a UE may function as a scheduling entity, scheduling resourcesfor one or more subordinate entities (e.g., one or more other UEs). Inthis example, the UE is functioning as a scheduling entity, and otherUEs utilize resources scheduled by the UE for wireless communication. AUE may function as a scheduling entity in a peer-to-peer (P2P) network,and/or in a mesh network. In a mesh network example, UEs may optionallycommunicate directly with one another in addition to communicating withthe scheduling entity.

Thus, in a wireless communication network with a scheduled access totime-frequency resources and having a cellular configuration, a P2Pconfiguration, and a mesh configuration, a scheduling entity and one ormore subordinate entities may communicate utilizing the scheduledresources.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example logical architecture of a distributedradio access network (RAN) 200, which may be implemented in the wirelesscommunication system illustrated in FIG. 1. A 5G access node 206 mayinclude an access node controller (ANC) 202. The ANC 202 may be acentral unit (CU) of the distributed RAN 200. The backhaul interface tothe next generation core network (NG-CN) 204 may terminate at the ANC202. The backhaul interface to neighboring next generation access nodes(NG-ANs) 210 may terminate at the ANC 202. The ANC 202 may include oneor more TRPs 208 (which may also be referred to as BSs, NR BSs, gNBs, orsome other term).

The TRPs 208 may be a DU. The TRPs may be connected to one ANC (ANC 202)or more than one ANC (not illustrated). For example, for RAN sharing,radio as a service (RaaS), and service specific AND deployments, the TRP208 may be connected to more than one ANC. A TRP may include one or moreantenna ports. The TRPs may be configured to individually (e.g., dynamicselection) or jointly (e.g., joint transmission) serve traffic to a UE.

The logical architecture of the distributed RAN 200 may support fronthauling solutions across different deployment types. For example, thelogical architecture may be based on transmit network capabilities(e.g., bandwidth, latency, and/or jitter). The logical architecture mayshare features and/or components with LTE. The NG-AN 210 may supportdual connectivity with NR. The NG-AN 210 may share a common fronthaulfor LTE and NR. The logical architecture may enable cooperation betweenand among TRPs 208. For example, cooperation may be preset within a TRPand/or across TRPs via the ANC 202. An inter-TRP interface may bepresent.

The logical architecture of the distributed RAN 200 may support adynamic configuration of split logical functions. As will be describedin more detail with reference to FIG. 5, the Radio Resource Control(RRC) layer, Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, Radio LinkControl (RLC) layer, Medium Access Control (MAC) layer, and a Physical(PHY) layers may be adaptably placed at the DU or CU (e.g., TRP or ANC,respectively).

FIG. 3 illustrates an example physical architecture of a distributed RAN300, according to aspects of the present disclosure. A centralized corenetwork unit (C-CU) 302 may host core network functions. The C-CU 302may be centrally deployed. C-CU functionality may be offloaded (e.g., toadvanced wireless services (AWS)), in an effort to handle peak capacity.

A centralized RAN unit (C-RU) 304 may host one or more ANC functions.The C-RU 304 may host core network functions locally. The C-RU 304 mayhave distributed deployment. The C-RU 304 may be closer to the networkedge.

A DU 306 may host one or more TRPs (e.g., an edge node (EN), an edgeunit (EU), a radio head (RH), a smart radio head (SRH), or the like).The DU may be located at edges of the network with radio frequency (RF)functionality.

FIG. 4 illustrates example components 400 of the gNB 110 and UE 120illustrated in FIG. 1, which may be used to implement aspects of thepresent disclosure for frequency hopping for large bandwidthallocations. For example, antennas 452, Tx/Rx 222, processors 466, 458,464, and/or controller/processor 480 of the UE 120 may be configured toperform operations 1100 of FIG. 11, and/or antennas 434, processors 460,420, 438, and/or controller/processor 440 of the gNB 110 may beconfigured to perform operations 1100 of FIG. 10.

FIG. 4 shows a block diagram of a design of a gNB 110 and a UE 120,which may be one of the gNBs and one of the UEs in FIG. 1. For arestricted association scenario, the gNB 110 may be the macro gNB 110 cin FIG. 1, and the UE 120 may be the UE 120 y. The gNB 110 may also begNB of some other type. The gNB 110 may be equipped with antennas 434 athrough 434 t, and the UE 120 may be equipped with antennas 452 athrough 452 r.

At the gNB 110, a transmit processor 420 may receive data from a datasource 412 and control information from a controller/processor 440. Thecontrol information may be for the Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH),Physical Control Format Indicator Channel (PCFICH), Physical Hybrid ARQIndicator Channel (PHICH), Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH),etc. The data may be for the Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH),etc. The processor 420 may process (e.g., encode and symbol map) thedata and control information to obtain data symbols and control symbols,respectively. The processor 420 may also generate reference symbols,e.g., for the PSS, SSS, and cell-specific reference signal (CRS). Atransmit (TX) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) processor 430 mayperform spatial processing (e.g., precoding) on the data symbols, thecontrol symbols, and/or the reference symbols, if applicable, and mayprovide output symbol streams to the modulators (MODs) 432 a through 432t. Each modulator 432 may process a respective output symbol stream(e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain an output sample stream. Each modulator432 may further process (e.g., convert to analog, amplify, filter, andupconvert) the output sample stream to obtain a downlink signal.Downlink signals from modulators 432 a through 432 t may be transmittedvia the antennas 434 a through 434 t, respectively.

At the UE 120, the antennas 452 a through 452 r may receive the downlinksignals from the gNB 110 and may provide received signals to thedemodulators (DEMODs) 454 a through 454 r, respectively. Eachdemodulator 454 may condition (e.g., filter, amplify, downconvert, anddigitize) a respective received signal to obtain input samples. Eachdemodulator 454 may further process the input samples (e.g., for OFDM,etc.) to obtain received symbols. A MIMO detector 456 may obtainreceived symbols from all the demodulators 454 a through 454 r, performMIMO detection on the received symbols if applicable, and providedetected symbols. A receive processor 458 may process (e.g., demodulate,deinterleave, and decode) the detected symbols, provide decoded data forthe UE 120 to a data sink 460, and provide decoded control informationto a controller/processor 480.

On the uplink, at the UE 120, a transmit processor 464 may receive andprocess data (e.g., for the Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH)) froma data source 462 and control information (e.g., for the Physical UplinkControl Channel (PUCCH) from the controller/processor 480. The transmitprocessor 464 may also generate reference symbols for a referencesignal. The symbols from the transmit processor 464 may be precoded by aTX MIMO processor 466 if applicable, further processed by thedemodulators 454 a through 454 r (e.g., for SC-FDM, etc.), andtransmitted to the gNB 110. At the gNB 110, the uplink signals from theUE 120 may be received by the antennas 434, processed by the modulators432, detected by a MIMO detector 436 if applicable, and furtherprocessed by a receive processor 438 to obtain decoded data and controlinformation sent by the UE 120. The receive processor 438 may providethe decoded data to a data sink 439 and the decoded control informationto the controller/processor 440.

The controllers/processors 440 and 480 may direct the operation at thegNB 110 and the UE 120, respectively. The processor 440 and/or otherprocessors and modules at the gNB 110 may perform or direct, e.g., theexecution of various processes for the techniques described herein. Theprocessor 480 and/or other processors and modules at the UE 120 may alsoperform or direct, e.g., the execution of the functional blocksillustrated in FIGS. 9 and 11, and/or other processes for the techniquesdescribed herein. The processor 440 and/or other processors and modulesat the gNB 110 may also perform or direct, e.g., the execution of thefunctional blocks illustrated in FIG. 10, and/or other processes for thetechniques described herein. The memories 442, 482 may store data andprogram codes for the gNB 110 and the UE 120, respectively. A scheduler444 may schedule UEs for data transmission on the downlink and/oruplink.

FIG. 5 illustrates a diagram 500 showing examples for implementing acommunications protocol stack, according to aspects of the presentdisclosure. The illustrated communications protocol stacks may beimplemented by devices operating in a in a 5G system (e.g., a systemthat supports uplink-based mobility). Diagram 500 illustrates acommunications protocol stack including a Radio Resource Control (RRC)layer 510, a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer 515, a RadioLink Control (RLC) layer 520, a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer 525,and a Physical (PHY) layer 530. In various examples the layers of aprotocol stack may be implemented as separate modules of software,portions of a processor or ASIC, portions of non-collocated devicesconnected by a communications link, or various combinations thereof.Collocated and non-collocated implementations may be used, for example,in a protocol stack for a network access device (e.g., ANs, CUs, and/orDUs) or a UE.

A first option 505-a shows a split implementation of a protocol stack,in which implementation of the protocol stack is split between acentralized network access device (e.g., an ANC 202 in FIG. 2) anddistributed network access device (e.g., DU 208 in FIG. 2). In the firstoption 505-a, an RRC layer 510 and a PDCP layer 515 may be implementedby the central unit, and an RLC layer 520, a MAC layer 525, and a PHYlayer 530 may be implemented by the DU. In various examples the CU andthe DU may be collocated or non-collocated. The first option 505-a maybe useful in a macro cell, micro cell, or pico cell deployment.

A second option 505-b shows a unified implementation of a protocolstack, in which the protocol stack is implemented in a single networkaccess device (e.g., access node (AN), new radio base station (NR BS), anew radio Node-B (NR NB), a network node (NN), or the like). In thesecond option, the RRC layer 510, the PDCP layer 515, the RLC layer 520,the MAC layer 525, and the PHY layer 530 may each be implemented by theAN. The second option 505-b may be useful in a femto cell deployment.

Regardless of whether a network access device implements part or all ofa protocol stack, a UE may implement an entire protocol stack (e.g., theRRC layer 510, the PDCP layer 515, the RLC layer 520, the MAC layer 525,and the PHY layer 530).

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a frame format 600 for NR. Thetransmission timeline for each of the downlink and uplink may bepartitioned into units of radio frames. Each radio frame may have apredetermined duration (e.g., 10 ms) and may be partitioned into 10subframes, each of 1 ms, with indices of 0 through 9. Each subframe mayinclude a variable number of slots depending on the subcarrier spacing.Each slot may include a variable number of symbol periods (e.g., 7 or 14symbols) depending on the subcarrier spacing. The symbol periods in eachslot may be assigned indices. A mini-slot, which may be referred to as asub-slot structure, refers to a transmit time interval having a durationless than a slot (e.g., 2, 3, or 4 symbols).

Each symbol in a slot may indicate a link direction (e.g., DL, UL, orflexible) for data transmission and the link direction for each subframemay be dynamically switched. The link directions may be based on theslot format. Each slot may include DL/UL data as well as DL/UL controlinformation.

In NR, a synchronization signal (SS) block is transmitted. Asillustrated in FIG. 7, the SS block includes a PSS, a SSS, and a twosymbol PBCH. The SS block can be transmitted in a fixed slot location,such as the symbols 0-3 as shown in FIG. 6. The PSS and SSS may be usedby UEs for cell search and acquisition. The PSS may provide half-frametiming, the SS may provide the CP length and frame timing. The PSS andSSS may provide the cell identity. The PBCH carries some basic systeminformation, such as downlink system bandwidth, timing informationwithin radio frame, SS burst set periodicity, system frame number, etc.The SS blocks may be organized into SS bursts to support beam sweeping.Further system information such as, remaining minimum system information(RMSI), system information blocks (SIBs), other system information (OSI)can be transmitted on a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) incertain subframes. The SS block may be transmitted up to sixty-fourtimes, for example, with up to sixty-four different beam directions formmW. The up to sixty-four transmissions of the SS block are referred toas the SS burst set.

In some circumstances, two or more subordinate entities (e.g., UEs) maycommunicate with each other using sidelink signals. Real-worldapplications of such sidelink communications may include public safety,proximity services, UE-to-network relaying, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V)communications, Internet-of-Everything (IoE) communications, IoTcommunications, mission-critical mesh, and/or various other suitableapplications. Generally, a sidelink signal may refer to a signalcommunicated from one subordinate entity (e.g., UE1) to anothersubordinate entity (e.g., UE2) without relaying that communicationthrough the scheduling entity (e.g., UE or gNB), even though thescheduling entity may be utilized for scheduling and/or controlpurposes. In some examples, the sidelink signals may be communicatedusing a licensed spectrum (unlike wireless local area networks, whichtypically use an unlicensed spectrum).

A UE may operate in various radio resource configurations, including aconfiguration associated with transmitting pilots using a dedicated setof resources (e.g., a radio resource control (RRC) dedicated state,etc.) or a configuration associated with transmitting pilots using acommon set of resources (e.g., an RRC common state, etc.). Whenoperating in the RRC dedicated state, the UE may select a dedicated setof resources for transmitting a pilot signal to a network. Whenoperating in the RRC common state, the UE may select a common set ofresources for transmitting a pilot signal to the network. In eithercase, a pilot signal transmitted by the UE may be received by one ormore network access devices, such as an AN, or a DU, or portionsthereof. Each receiving network access device may be configured toreceive and measure pilot signals transmitted on the common set ofresources, and also receive and measure pilot signals transmitted ondedicated sets of resources allocated to the UEs for which the networkaccess device is a member of a monitoring set of network access devicesfor the UE. One or more of the receiving network access devices, or a CUto which receiving network access device(s) transmit the measurements ofthe pilot signals, may use the measurements to identify serving cellsfor the UEs, or to initiate a change of serving cell for one or more ofthe UEs.

Aspects of the present disclosure provide apparatus, methods, processingsystems, and computer program products for new radio (NR) (new radioaccess technology or 5G technology). New radio (NR) may refer to radiosconfigured to operate according to a new air interface (e.g., other thanOrthogonal Frequency Divisional Multiple Access (OFDMA)-based airinterfaces) or fixed transport layer (e.g., other than Internet Protocol(IP)). NR may include Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) service targetingwide bandwidth (e.g. 80 MHz beyond), millimeter wave (mmW) targetinghigh carrier frequency (e.g. 60 GHz), massive MTC (mMTC) targetingnon-backward compatible MTC techniques, and/or mission criticaltargeting ultra-reliable low latency communications (URLLC) service. TheRAN may include a central unit (CU) and distributed units (DUs). A NRNode B (e.g., 5G Node B) may correspond to one or multiple transmissionreception points (TRPs).

Example Techniques for Minimum Scheduling Delay Signaling

Bandwidth part (BWP) for NR provides a means of operating UEs withsmaller bandwidth, as compared with a wider system bandwidthconfiguration. This use of BWPs help make NR an energy efficientsolution despite the support of wideband operation.

Switching between cross-slot scheduling (e.g., DCI in one slot schedulesan event in another slot) for power saving and same-slot scheduling(e.g., DCI in one slot schedules an event in the same slot) may besupported with BWP adaptation, but may be cumbersome. Moreover,cross-slot scheduling for power saving may not work if non-Type-D-quasico location (QCL) aperiodic-channel state information (CSI) request issupported.

FIG. 8 illustrates example downlink communications for BWP. For example,slots 802 for BWP0 may be narrow band (e.g., default BWP), slots 804 forBWP1 may be wide band and may employ same slot scheduling, and slots 806for BWP2 may be wide band with cross-slot scheduling. Different BWPs maycorrespond to different power consumptions. Therefore, power may besaved by switching between BWPs, for example, from a BWP with a highercorresponding power consumption to a BWP with a lower power consumption.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example downlink communications with multiple BWPshaving DCI. As illustrated, the DCI in BWP0 of slot 902 may indicate aBWP ID of 1 (e.g., indicating BWP1) and select a first row (k0=2) of atable (table 1) for k0 to schedule data in slot 903.

The parameter k0 generally indicates a delay between DL grant andcorresponding DL data (PDSCH) reception. As illustrated, the third rowof table 1 may not be addressable. In slot 904, a DCI may indicate BWPID of 1 and select the third row (k0=0) to schedule downlink data in thesame slot 904. In slot 906, the DCI may indicate a BWP ID of 2 (e.g.,indicating BWP2) and select the second row of another table (table 2),indicating a k0 of 1 to schedule data in slot 908. Moreover, in slot910, the DCI may indicate BWP ID of 1, and select the first row ofanother table (Table 0), indicating k0=2, in order to schedule data inslot 912. Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide enhancementto improve cross-slot scheduling configuration by implementing a minimumk0 threshold which may be dynamically updated or explicitly configured.For example, a UE may either invalidate DCI based on an indicated k0 oradjust the indicated k0, according to the minimum k0 threshold. Aspectsdescribed herein may also be beneficial to carrier aggregation (CA)power for cross-carrier scheduling. Similar techniques may also beapplied for the parameter k2, used to indicate a delay between UL grantreception in DL and UL data (PUSCH) transmission.

FIG. 10 illustrates example operations 1000 for wireless communication,in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. Theoperations 1000 may be performed, for example, by a base station, suchas the base station 110.

The operations 1000 begin, at block 1002, by determining a minimumthreshold for a scheduling parameter that indicates a scheduling delaybetween an end of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH)transmission and a beginning of a transmission scheduled by the PDCCH.At 1004, the base station configures a user equipment (UE) with theminimum threshold.

In some cases, rather than a base station configuring the UE with theminimum threshold, the minimum threshold may be specified in a standard.

FIG. 11 illustrates example operations 1100 for wireless communication,in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. Theoperations 1100 may be performed, for example, by a UE, such as the UE120. The operations 1100 correspond to the operations 1000, but from theperspective of the UE 120.

The operations 1100 begin, at block 1102, by receiving a physicaldownlink control channel (PDCCH) with downlink control information (DCI)signaling a scheduling parameter indicating a scheduling delay betweenan end of the PDCCH transmission and a beginning of a transmissionscheduled by the PDCCH. At 1104, the UE determines a value of thescheduling parameter is below a minimum threshold. At 1106, the UEtaking at least one action in response to the determination.

In certain aspects, the minimum k0 threshold may be semi-staticallysignaled per scheduled CC or per UE via a DCI, medium access control(MAC)-control element (CE), or radio-resource control (RRC)configuration. In certain aspects, the minimum k0 threshold may beexplicitly RRC-configured per BWP. For example, entries in aPDSCH-symbolAllocation table with k0 less than a threshold, or aPUSCH-symbol allocation table with k2 less than a threshold, may beimplicitly invalidated considered unusable. Error cases may occur if aninvalidated entry is still indicated by scheduling, or if no entries inthe table are valid.

In certain aspects, DCI may indicate a value for k0 that is smaller thanthe minimum threshold, which would be considered invalid by the UE. Howthe UE handles this condition may be left up to UE implementation. Forexample, as the UE is not expected to handle PDSCH scheduled with k0smaller than the threshold, it may drop (e.g., ignore) this DCI.

In certain aspects, a threshold value may be added to an indication ofk0 in the scheduling DCI. For example, k0′ may be calculated by the UEbased on a sum of k0 and a k0 threshold indicated in the DCI. In thiscase, all entries in the PDSCH-symbolAllocation table may still beusable and the UE may not need to drop the DCI.

In certain aspects, a minimum of an indicated k0 and the k0 thresholdmay be used. For example, instead of dropping the DCI, the UE may set k0to the threshold k0 (which serves as a minimum or “floor”).

In certain aspects, the minimum threshold may be defined inspecification. For example, the minimum k0 threshold may be directlydefined in the specification instead of by explicit configuration. Incertain aspects, the minimum threshold may be tied to connected modediscontinuous reception (C-DRX). For example, during the ON duration ofthe C-DRX mode, a larger minimum k0 threshold may be used and a smaller(or none) minimum k0 threshold when DRX inactivity timer is counting.

In certain aspects, the minimum k0 threshold may apply not only to PDSCHscheduling, but may be generalized to apply to other DL scheduling,including but not limited to CSI-RS transmitted on the DL after an A-CSIrequest is triggered by the network. Currently, CSI-RS is transmitted inthe same slot as the A-CSI request DCI for non-Type-D-QCL. While theexamples provided herein have described a minimum threshold for k0 andPDSCH scheduling to facilitate understanding, aspects of the presentdisclosure may be similarly applied to the UL counterpart of k0, theminimum k2 and PUSCH scheduling.

As contemplated above, there are various limitations for Cross-SlotScheduling in current systems. One limitation relates to fast adaptationbetween cross-slot scheduling and same-slot scheduling with BWPadaptation. Because the time domain resource allocation (TDRA) tables(i.e., PDSCH-symbolAllocation and PUSCH-symbolAllocation tables) areBWP-specific, some BWPs can be configured with all entries with k0>0,whereas some (other) BWPs can be configured with entries containingk0=0. As a result, switching between BWP can achieve the result ofadapting between minimum k0>0 and minimum k0=0.

One rather subtle issue is that, during a BWP switch, for the DCI thattriggers the BWP switch, the TDRA table configured for the target BWP istypically used. Because a UE does not know a-priori when it wouldreceive a BWP-switching DCI, it may be difficult to guarantee that aschedulable k0 is always greater than zero, even if a minimum k0 isconfigured to be greater than zero for the current BWP. The followingprovide various approaches to work-around this problem.

One approach is, for a BWP other than the current BWP (intended tosupport cross-slot scheduling), if k0=0 entry should be configured inthe corresponding TDRA table, assign the entry with a higher index suchthat it is not addressable by the bit-width of the frequency domain RAfield of the current BWP. For example, assuming a frequency domain RA(FDRA) field has bit width of 1 bit for the current BWP, for the otherBWP, the table could be configured to make sure the k0=0 entry (if any)is assigned index 2 or larger.

BWP transition time defined in the standard specification may be madelarge enough such that the k0=0 entries in other BWPs are considerednon-schedulable from the current BWP. This may address a need for theindicated k0 for cross-BWP scheduling to accommodate the BWP transitiontime (which is defined to be slightly more than 2 msec by RAN4 for Type2 switching or less for Type 1).

Management of different minimum k0 values across BWP presents achallenge, for cross-BWP scheduling (which triggers BWP switch), becausethe target BWP TDRA table is typically used. As described above, minimumk0 is a function of all the entries in the TDRA table, but the UE doesnot know a-priori when and which BWP would be triggered to switch to (incase there are more than two BWPs configured). The minimum k0 that a UEhas to be prepared to handle can be expressed as the following:

$\min( {{{min\_ k0}( {{BWP}0} )},{\max( {{{BWP}{transition}{time}{in}{slots}},{\min\limits_{n = {{1\ldots{numBWP}} - 1}}( {{min\_ k0}({BWPn})} )}} )}} )$

where:

-   -   min_k0(BWPx) is the minimum k0 across all entries in the TDRA        table for BWPx,    -   where x={0, . . . , numBWP−1}; and    -   numBWP is the number of configured DL BWP.        Without the loss of generality, BWP0 in the equation above may        be assumed to be the current BWP. The above discussion can be        generalized to minimum value for k2 as well. Overall, minimum k0        and minimum k2 can be discussed more generally as a “minimum DL        scheduling offset” and “minimum UL scheduling offset” to cover        requirements for transmissions other than PDSCH and PUSCH (such        as aperiodic CSI triggering, etc.).

For reasons discusses above, it may be important to ensure propersupport for minimum scheduling offset configuration. One relativelystraight-forward approach is to have an explicit configuration of theminimum DL scheduling offset. This minimum DL scheduling offset mayaccomplish the following:

-   -   It explicitly controls the minimum k0 that UE is expected to        handle for PDSCH scheduling, even for cross-BWP scheduling (i.e.        triggering BWP switch); and    -   It defines the minimum timing offset for aperiodic CSI-RS        triggering        As noted above, more generally, such configuration may define        the minimum timing offset for all other DL channel/signal that        is scheduled by DCI. Similarly, a minimum UL scheduling offset        can be explicitly configured, serving UL scheduling usage.

The constraints described herein may require special consideration forDCI monitored in common search space (CSS). For DCI scrambled with an ID(e.g., SI/P/RA/TC-RNTI), monitored in Type 0/0A/1/2 CSS, a default orcommon TDRA table may be used. Also, for DCI scrambled withCS/MCS-C/C-RNTI in CSS in CORESET 0, the common TDRA table may be used.The default TDRA table may be fixed in a standard specification and maycontain k0=0 entries. The common TDRA table can be configured andprovided, for example, in a common configuration for PDSCH (e.g.,PDSCH-ConfigCommon). As a result, an exception may be made for PDSCHscheduled under the aforementioned conditions and the minimum DLscheduling offset may not be applicable, in order to ensure properfallback operation. The duty cycle for monitoring DCI scrambled withSI/P/RA/TC-RNTI may be configured to be very small so that majority ofthe time, handling k0=0 can be avoided. For DCI scrambled with C-RNTIdetected in CSS (if not in CORESET 0), a UE-specific TDRA table may beused if available, so that a minimum scheduling offset may still apply.

Minimum DL/UL scheduling offsets can be attributes of BWPconfigurations. The minimum DL/UL scheduling offsets in use can be a setof values associated with the BWP which is currently active.

As illustrated in FIGS. 12A and 12B, in addition to such a TDRA tableconfiguration per DL BWP, there can be one or multiple minimum DLscheduling offsets configured per DL BWP. In the example shown FIG. 12A,there are multiple minimum DL scheduling offsets for BWP0 and adifferent DL scheduling offset for BWP1. In the example shown in FIG.12B, both BWP0 and BWP1 both have multiple minimum DL scheduling offsets(with the same values). The same use of multiple values can be used forminimum UL scheduling offsets and UL BWPs.

In the case multiple minimum scheduling offsets are supported for aparticular BWP, as in the examples shown in FIGS. 12A and 12B,additional signaling can be used to choose which offset is to beselected.

For example, minimum scheduling offsets corresponding to a large andsmall delay can be configured for BWP1. In some cases, semi-staticsignaling (e.g. via RRC signaling) may convey the multiple values, whileAC CE or DCI signaling may select which of the minimum schedulingoffsets to use. For periods of very little traffic, the larger minimumscheduling offset can be selected to maximize power saving benefits. Insome cases, there can be an initial minimum scheduling offset (e.g.,which is designated as one of the configured minimum scheduling offsets)for the BWP. When the BWP becomes active, the initial minimum schedulingoffset is implicitly selected for use. Alternatively, the minimumscheduling offset implicitly selected for use when the BWP becomesactive can also be the value that was most recently selected for usewhen the BWP was last active. A default value may still need to bedesignated for the very first time the BWP becomes active after the BWPis (re)configured. The parameter sets configured per BWP need not belimited to minimum scheduling offsets only, but could be extended toinclude other parameters.

When signaling (e.g. DCI) changes the minimum scheduling offset valuethat is currently in use to a new value, the application time of the newvalue may account for the time taken for the reception and processing ofthe signaling. For example, for DCI signaling, the current minimumscheduling offset defines the latest time that DCI processing has tofinish. Therefore the application time of the new value may be such thatit is not earlier than the current minimum scheduling offset from theslot the DCI indicating the change is received. Otherwise, a morestringent processing timeline may have to be imposed to DCI processingand may result in reduced power saving. In other words, for DCIindication to change the minimum scheduling offset (X), the start timeof the new minimum value (X_new) may be applied in the slot which ismax(X, Z) number of slots after the DCI indicating the change isreceived. In this case, Z is a positive integer number for the minimumnumber of slots for applying the change (e.g. Z=1).

FIG. 13 illustrates an example of operation with minimum DL schedulingoffset for PDSCH. As illustrated, DCI with an indication of k0 which issmaller than the minimum DL scheduling offset may be considered invalid.TDRA table entries with k0 less than the minimum DL scheduling offsetare essentially “dummy values.” Explicitly controlling the minimumscheduling offset may allow more flexibility in configuring the TDRAtable. In some cases, the table may be configured with the same contentfor the table for different BWPs, while still having different minimumscheduling offset across BWPs.

FIG. 14 illustrates an example of operation with minimum DL/ULscheduling offset for A-CSI. The minimum DL scheduling offset may alsoserve as at least the lower bound for the triggering offset foraperiodic CSI-RS. The timing of CSI-RS may be a function of theconfigured CSI triggering offset (which is fixed to zero fornon-QCL-Type-D in Rel-15), and the minimum DL scheduling offset. Twoexamples of such functions include:

-   -   max(CSI trigger offset, minimum DL scheduling offset); or    -   CSI trigger offset+minimum DL scheduling offset.        Alternatively, the CSI trigger offset may be made a DCI signaled        parameter and may be required to follow the minimum DL        scheduling offset rule. For combined A-CSI trigger and BWP        switch trigger, the network can indicate a larger CSI trigger        offset to accommodate DL BWP switch latency.

As illustrated in FIG. 15, the minimum scheduling offset may be appliedwith scheduling across multiple BWPs. The illustrated example assumes aBWP switching latency of 1 slot, a single TDRA configured value (2) ofk0 for BWP0 and two TDRA configured values (0,2) of k0 for BWP1. Asillustrated, even when the BWP switching latency is satisfied, theminimum DL scheduling offset may need to be satisfied (or a PDSCHscheduled by a DCI may be dropped as illustrated in the figure).

The techniques described herein may also be applicable to Cross-CarrierScheduling (e.g., a DCI received in one BWP scheduling a transmission inanother BWP). According to certain systems, search space configurationfor cross-carrier scheduling may be based on the currently active BWP onthe scheduled carrier. There may be a linkage rule for the search spacedefined for the scheduled carrier to that for the scheduling carrier.Similar to self-scheduling, the minimum k0 may be determined based onthe TDRA tables across all schedulable BWP on the scheduled carrier,along with any additional conditions such as BWP transition latency.

For cross-carrier scheduling, there may be an even stronger motivationfor introducing explicit minimum scheduling offsets. For example, iftraffic on a secondary cell (Scell) is light, there could be long gapsof inactivity on the SCell. In such cases, a UE may save more power byoperating in lower power mode (e.g. at reduced clock/voltage for thebaseband). The UE may even choose to suspend processing related to theSCell while it is not being scheduled, for example, with reduced CSImeasurement and reporting, and/or SRS transmission.

However, for such power saving to be feasible, it may be a prerequisiteto guarantee a scheduling delay from the scheduling carrier (e.g., theprimary cell or PCell) to the scheduled carrier (e.g. SCell), such thatthere can be enough time for hardware to transition to higher power modeto process the scheduled operations on the SCell. Similar toself-scheduling, this can be achieved by careful configuration ofminimum k0 across the BWP of the scheduled carrier. However, there isstill a potential issue with making the A-CSI triggering offsetconsistent with the minimum k0. Explicit minimum scheduling offsetsapplied to cross-carrier scheduling may help solve the issue, whilesimplifying the configuration and operation.

FIG. 16 illustrates how the minimum scheduling offset may be applied toCross-Carrier Scheduling operation. The illustrated example assumes aBWP switching latency of 1 slot, a single TDRA configured value (3) ofk0 for BWP0 and two TDRA configured values (1,3) of k0 for BWP1. Asillustrated, the minimum scheduling offset of the active BWP on thescheduled carrier guarantees certain scheduling delay. In theillustrated example, BWP0 of CC1 can be the “power saving BWP” as it isconfigured with a large minimum DL scheduling offset. It can be usedmost of the time when traffic is sparse. When there is more traffic,BWP1 of CC1 can become the active BWP and a smaller minimum DLscheduling offset can be used for lower latency.

In some cases, minimum scheduling offsets may be used as UE feedback(e.g., implicitly indicating UE capability). For cross-carrierscheduling with different numerologies, due to potential for extrabuffering requirement and satisfying the causality condition forscheduling, a non-zero minimum DL scheduling offset may need to beconfigured, but the amount of the offset may be dependent on UEcapability (e.g. the buffering capacity it is designed to support).

In such cases, it may make sense for a UE to report a desired minimumscheduling offset effectively as an indication of UE capability.Extending this further, there may be a power saving benefit for havingsufficiently large minimum scheduling offset for cross-carrierscheduling (regardless of same/different numerologies). The amount ofscheduling delay needed to achieve power saving may be UE-implementationdependent. The UE capability framework described herein can begeneralized to any cross-carrier scheduling configuration.

In some cases, a UE-based assistance framework may be used (to report adesired minimum scheduling offset) instead of UE capability framework.In such cases, a UE may report preferred values of minimum schedulingoffsets. The network may then decide, based on the UE-reported preferredvalues, how to configure the final minimum scheduling offsets.

The minimum UL scheduling offsets described herein could be applied to avariety of different uplink transmissions. A sounding reference signal(SRS) is one example of such a transmission. In some cases, a minimum ULscheduling offset could be applied to an aperiodic SRS (A-SRS)transmitted on the uplink after an (A-SRS) request is triggered (e.g.,via DCI conveyed in a PDCCH). In such cases, an A-SRS configuration maybe signaled via RRC signaling and triggered via DCI.

The time granularity of the scheduling parameter in the DCI and/or theminimum threshold may vary. For example, the granularity in eithersymbol resolution or slot resolution may be used. In some cases, symbollevel resolution may be derived from a scheduling parameter (e.g.,indicated from a TDRA table). In some cases, the granularity may bequantized to a slot resolution.

In some cases, the granularity may be based on the numerology of thetransmission scheduled by the PDCCH, in case it is different from thenumerology of the PDCCH. In other cases, the granularity could be basedon the PDCCH. In some other cases, the granularity could be based on thenumerology of the currently active BWP, or a reference numerology. Asused herein, the term numerology generally refers to waveformparameters, such as cyclic prefix length and subcarrier spacing (SCS).In general, the duration of an OFDM symbol is inversely proportional tosubcarrier spacing.

The methods disclosed herein comprise one or more steps or actions forachieving the described method. The method steps and/or actions may beinterchanged with one another without departing from the scope of theclaims. In other words, unless a specific order of steps or actions isspecified, the order and/or use of specific steps and/or actions may bemodified without departing from the scope of the claims.

As used herein, a phrase referring to “at least one of” a list of itemsrefers to any combination of those items, including single members. Asan example, “at least one of: a, b, or c” is intended to cover a, b, c,a-b, a-c, b-c, and a-b-c, as well as any combination with multiples ofthe same element (e.g., a-a, a-a-a, a-a-b, a-a-c, a-b-b, a-c-c, b-b,b-b-b, b-b-c, c-c, and c-c-c or any other ordering of a, b, and c).

As used herein, the term “determining” encompasses a wide variety ofactions. For example, “determining” may include calculating, computing,processing, deriving, investigating, looking up (e.g., looking up in atable, a database or another data structure), ascertaining and the like.Also, “determining” may include receiving (e.g., receiving information),accessing (e.g., accessing data in a memory) and the like. Also,“determining” may include resolving, selecting, choosing, establishingand the like.

The previous description is provided to enable any person skilled in theart to practice the various aspects described herein. Variousmodifications to these aspects will be readily apparent to those skilledin the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied toother aspects. Thus, the claims are not intended to be limited to theaspects shown herein, but is to be accorded the full scope consistentwith the language claims, wherein reference to an element in thesingular is not intended to mean “one and only one” unless specificallyso stated, but rather “one or more.” Unless specifically statedotherwise, the term “some” refers to one or more. All structural andfunctional equivalents to the elements of the various aspects describedthroughout this disclosure that are known or later come to be known tothose of ordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporated herein byreference and are intended to be encompassed by the claims. Moreover,nothing disclosed herein is intended to be dedicated to the publicregardless of whether such disclosure is explicitly recited in theclaims. No claim element is to be construed under the provisions of 35U.S.C. § 112, sixth paragraph, unless the element is expressly recitedusing the phrase “means for” or, in the case of a method claim, theelement is recited using the phrase “step for.”

The various operations of methods described above may be performed byany suitable means capable of performing the corresponding functions.The means may include various hardware and/or software component(s)and/or module(s), including, but not limited to a circuit, anapplication specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or processor. Generally,where there are operations illustrated in figures, those operations mayhave corresponding counterpart means-plus-function components.

The various illustrative logical blocks, modules and circuits describedin connection with the present disclosure may be implemented orperformed with a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor(DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a fieldprogrammable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device (PLD),discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or anycombination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein.A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in thealternative, the processor may be any commercially available processor,controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also beimplemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combinationof a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one ormore microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other suchconfiguration.

If implemented in hardware, an example hardware configuration maycomprise a processing system in a wireless node. The processing systemmay be implemented with a bus architecture. The bus may include anynumber of interconnecting buses and bridges depending on the specificapplication of the processing system and the overall design constraints.The bus may link together various circuits including a processor,machine-readable media, and a bus interface. The bus interface may beused to connect a network adapter, among other things, to the processingsystem via the bus. The network adapter may be used to implement thesignal processing functions of the PHY layer. In the case of a UE 120(see FIG. 1), a user interface (e.g., keypad, display, mouse, joystick,etc.) may also be connected to the bus. The bus may also link variousother circuits such as timing sources, peripherals, voltage regulators,power management circuits, and the like, which are well known in theart, and therefore, will not be described any further. The processor maybe implemented with one or more general-purpose and/or special-purposeprocessors. Examples include microprocessors, microcontrollers, DSPprocessors, and other circuitry that can execute software. Those skilledin the art will recognize how best to implement the describedfunctionality for the processing system depending on the particularapplication and the overall design constraints imposed on the overallsystem.

If implemented in software, the functions may be stored or transmittedover as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium.Software shall be construed broadly to mean instructions, data, or anycombination thereof, whether referred to as software, firmware,middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or otherwise.Computer-readable media include both computer storage media andcommunication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of acomputer program from one place to another. The processor may beresponsible for managing the bus and general processing, including theexecution of software modules stored on the machine-readable storagemedia. A computer-readable storage medium may be coupled to a processorsuch that the processor can read information from, and write informationto, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may beintegral to the processor. By way of example, the machine-readable mediamay include a transmission line, a carrier wave modulated by data,and/or a computer readable storage medium with instructions storedthereon separate from the wireless node, all of which may be accessed bythe processor through the bus interface. Alternatively, or in addition,the machine-readable media, or any portion thereof, may be integratedinto the processor, such as the case may be with cache and/or generalregister files. Examples of machine-readable storage media may include,by way of example, RAM (Random Access Memory), flash memory, ROM (ReadOnly Memory), PROM (Programmable Read-Only Memory), EPROM (ErasableProgrammable Read-Only Memory), EEPROM (Electrically ErasableProgrammable Read-Only Memory), registers, magnetic disks, opticaldisks, hard drives, or any other suitable storage medium, or anycombination thereof. The machine-readable media may be embodied in acomputer-program product.

A software module may comprise a single instruction, or manyinstructions, and may be distributed over several different codesegments, among different programs, and across multiple storage media.The computer-readable media may comprise a number of software modules.The software modules include instructions that, when executed by anapparatus such as a processor, cause the processing system to performvarious functions. The software modules may include a transmissionmodule and a receiving module. Each software module may reside in asingle storage device or be distributed across multiple storage devices.By way of example, a software module may be loaded into RAM from a harddrive when a triggering event occurs. During execution of the softwaremodule, the processor may load some of the instructions into cache toincrease access speed. One or more cache lines may then be loaded into ageneral register file for execution by the processor. When referring tothe functionality of a software module below, it will be understood thatsuch functionality is implemented by the processor when executinginstructions from that software module.

Also, any connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium. Forexample, if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or otherremote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair,digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared(IR), radio, and microwave, then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable,twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, andmicrowave are included in the definition of medium. Disk and disc, asused herein, include compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc,digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk, and Blu-ray® disc where disksusually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce dataoptically with lasers. Thus, in some aspects computer-readable media maycomprise non-transitory computer-readable media (e.g., tangible media).In addition, for other aspects computer-readable media may comprisetransitory computer-readable media (e.g., a signal). Combinations of theabove should also be included within the scope of computer-readablemedia.

Thus, certain aspects may comprise a computer program product forperforming the operations presented herein. For example, such a computerprogram product may comprise a computer-readable medium havinginstructions stored (and/or encoded) thereon, the instructions beingexecutable by one or more processors to perform the operations describedherein.

Further, it should be appreciated that modules and/or other appropriatemeans for performing the methods and techniques described herein can bedownloaded and/or otherwise obtained by a user terminal and/or basestation as applicable. For example, such a device can be coupled to aserver to facilitate the transfer of means for performing the methodsdescribed herein. Alternatively, various methods described herein can beprovided via storage means (e.g., RAM, ROM, a physical storage mediumsuch as a compact disc (CD) or floppy disk, etc.), such that a userterminal and/or base station can obtain the various methods uponcoupling or providing the storage means to the device. Moreover, anyother suitable technique for providing the methods and techniquesdescribed herein to a device can be utilized.

It is to be understood that the claims are not limited to the preciseconfiguration and components illustrated above. Various modifications,changes and variations may be made in the arrangement, operation anddetails of the methods and apparatus described above without departingfrom the scope of the claims.

1. A method for wireless communications by a user equipment (UE),comprising: receiving a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH)transmission with downlink control information (DCI) signaling ascheduling parameter indicating a scheduling delay between an end of thePDCCH transmission and a beginning of a transmission scheduled by thePDCCH; determining whether a value of the scheduling parameter is belowa minimum threshold; treating a channel state information (CSI) triggerassociated with the DCI as invalid if the value of the schedulingparameter is below the minimum threshold; and communicating thetransmission scheduled by the PDCCH if the value of the schedulingparameter is not below the minimum threshold, wherein the scheduledtransmission comprises at least one channel state information referencesignal (CSI-RS) transmitted on the downlink after an aperiodic CSI(A-CSI) request is triggered.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein a valueof the minimum threshold is signaled per scheduled component carrier(CC) or per UE via at least one of: DCI, a medium access control (MAC)control element (CE), or radio resource control (RRC) configuration. 3.The method of claim 1, wherein one or multiple values of the minimumthreshold is configured per bandwidth part (BWP).
 4. The method of claim3, wherein the value of the minimum threshold used for the determinationis based on a currently active BWP.
 5. The method of claim 4, furthercomprising: determining entries in at least one of a physical downlinkshared channel (PDSCH) symbol allocation table or a physical uplinkshared channel (PUSCH) symbol allocation table with a correspondingscheduling parameter below the minimum threshold as at least one ofinvalid or unusable based on determining that the value of thescheduling parameter is below the minimum threshold.
 6. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the scheduled transmission comprises an uplinktransmission.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the uplink transmissioncomprises at least one sounding reference signal (SRS) transmitted onthe uplink after an aperiodic SRS (A-SRS) request is triggered.
 8. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising receiving signaling indicating theminimum threshold.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the signalingindicates a selection from a set of values for the minimum thresholdvalue.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein: the set of values is signaledvia radio resource control (RRC) signaling; and one of the set of valuesis selected via at least one of: media access control (MAC) controlelement (CE) or DCI signaling.
 11. The method of claim 9, furthercomprising selecting one of the values based on a traffic load.
 12. Themethod of claim 1, wherein a value of the minimum threshold is signaledper BWP.
 13. The method of claim 1, wherein determination of whether thevalue of the scheduling parameter is below a minimum threshold isperformed in orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) symbolresolution or slot resolution, based on a numerology of the PDCCH, anumerology of the transmission scheduled by the PDCCH, a numerology ofthe currently active BWP, or a reference numerology.
 14. An apparatusfor wireless communications at a user equipment (UE), comprising: aprocessor; memory coupled with the processor; and instructions stored inthe memory and operable, when executed by the processor, to cause theapparatus to: receive a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH)transmission with downlink control information (DCI) signaling ascheduling parameter indicating a scheduling delay between an end of thePDCCH transmission and a beginning of a transmission scheduled by thePDCCH; determine whether a value of the scheduling parameter is below aminimum threshold; treat a channel state information (CSI) triggerassociated with the DCI as invalid if the value of the schedulingparameter is below the minimum threshold; and communicate thetransmission scheduled by the PDCCH if the value of the schedulingparameter is not below the minimum threshold, wherein the scheduledtransmission comprises at least one channel state information referencesignal (CSI-RS) transmitted on the downlink after an aperiodic CSI(A-CSI) request is triggered.
 15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein avalue of the minimum threshold is signaled per scheduled componentcarrier (CC) or per UE via at least one of: DCI, a medium access control(MAC) control element (CE), or radio resource control (RRC)configuration.
 16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein one or multiplevalues of the minimum threshold is configured per bandwidth part (BWP).17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the value of the minimumthreshold used for the determination is based on a currently active BWP.18. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising: determining entriesin at least one of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) symbolallocation table or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) symbolallocation table with a corresponding scheduling parameter below theminimum threshold as at least one of invalid or unusable based ondetermining that the value of the scheduling parameter is below theminimum threshold.
 19. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the scheduledtransmission comprises an uplink transmission.
 20. The apparatus ofclaim 19, wherein the uplink transmission comprises at least onesounding reference signal (SRS) transmitted on the uplink after anaperiodic SRS (A-SRS) request is triggered.
 21. The apparatus of claim14, further comprising instructions operable to cause the apparatus toreceive signaling indicating the minimum threshold.
 22. The apparatus ofclaim 21, wherein the signaling indicates a selection from set of valuesfor the minimum threshold value.
 23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein:the set of values is signaled via radio resource control (RRC)signaling; and one of the set of values is selected via at least one of:media access control (MAC) control element (CE) or DCI signaling. 24.The apparatus of claim 22, further comprising selecting one of thevalues based on a traffic load.
 25. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein avalue of the minimum threshold is signaled per BWP.
 26. The apparatus ofclaim 14, wherein determination of whether the value of the schedulingparameter is below a minimum threshold is performed in orthogonalfrequency division multiplexed (OFDM) symbol resolution or slotresolution, based on a numerology of the PDCCH, a numerology of thetransmission scheduled by the PDCCH, a numerology of the currentlyactive BWP, or a reference numerology.
 27. An apparatus, comprising:means for receiving a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH)transmission with downlink control information (DCI) signaling ascheduling parameter indicating a scheduling delay between an end of thePDCCH transmission and a beginning of a transmission scheduled by thePDCCH; means for determining whether a value of the scheduling parameteris below a minimum threshold; means for treating a channel stateinformation (CSI) trigger associated with the DCI as invalid if thevalue of the scheduling parameter is below the minimum threshold; andmeans for communicating the transmission scheduled by the PDCCH if thevalue of the scheduling parameter is not below the minimum threshold,wherein the scheduled transmission comprises at least one channel stateinformation reference signal (CSI-RS) transmitted on the downlink afteran aperiodic CSI (A-CSI) request is triggered.
 28. A non-transitorycomputer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon which, whenexecuted by a processor, performs an operation comprising: receiving aphysical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmission with downlinkcontrol information (DCI) signaling a scheduling parameter indicating ascheduling delay between an end of the PDCCH transmission and abeginning of a transmission scheduled by the PDCCH; determining whethera value of the scheduling parameter is below a minimum threshold;treating a channel state information (CSI) trigger associated with theDCI as invalid if the value of the scheduling parameter is below theminimum threshold; and communicating the transmission scheduled by thePDCCH if the value of the scheduling parameter is not below the minimumthreshold, wherein the scheduled transmission comprises at least onechannel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) transmitted on thedownlink after an aperiodic CSI (A-CSI) request is triggered.